1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to articles of manufacture of the type that grip road or street surfaces and the apparatuses for producing the same, and more specifically relates to a footwear sole having friction and traction surfaces and an apparatus for producing such sole, together with a tire tread having both friction and traction surfaces, and apparatus for making the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 1,679,272 to F. A. Schultz, issued July 31, 1928, shows a shoe sole that has been modified to include a plurality of open pockets within which are disposed means that project therefrom to produce a tread grip. The projecting means have no enhanced friction-providing surfaces.
J. S. Porter, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,775,110, dated Sept. 9, 1930, discloses an apparatus suitable for applying abrasive to polishing wheels. The apparatus includes an endless belt that provides communication between the wheel to be treated and a hopper that stores the abrasive prior to application.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,200 to A. Andy, issued Jan. 4, 1966, entitled "Anti-Skid Tread for Vehicle Tires" shows a tire construction wherein particles of undissolved styrene of irregular shape are embedded in a pneumatic tire. The friction and traction surfaces of the Andy tire are treated with such particulate. The disclosure does not show specific apparatus for making the tire, nor, like all of the known prior art disclosures, does it show or suggest a means that would allow retention of the traction feature of the tire after the road-gripping surface thereof has been treated.
F. A. Clark, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,501, dated Oct. 4, 1966, also shows an anti-skid tire that has embedded therein abrasive granules such as cinder or sand granules. No specific apparatus for producing the desired tire is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,009 to F. E. McNulty, et. al., issued June 18, 1968, shows a method of coating conduits with a protective layer or coating of finely powdered resin particles.
The art is devoid of teachings or suggestions concerning how to provide shoe soles having both traction and friction surfaces. The art also provides no apparatus suitable for quickly and effectively applying friction-enhancing particles to the non-traction surfaces of a vehicle tire. Very importantly, the art contains no disclosures showing articles of manufacture or apparatus for making such articles of the type that retain the quality of traction after the friction quality has been enhanced.
The novel apparatus for applying friction-enhancing particles to the road-contacting portion of vehicle tires while leaving the non-road contacting, or traction portions thereof in an untreated condition, includes apparatus that is disposed below a road surface so that a vehicle may be driven into position atop such apparatus when it is desired to treat the tires of the vehicle. The sunken disposition of the novel apparatus enables the weight of the vehicle to be employed to accomplish the embedding of particulate matter into the adhesive applied by such sunken apparatus.
It is therefore seen that the primary object of this invention is to provide articles of manufacture that exhibit enhanced surface-gripping qualities due to their having friction-enhanced and traction surfaces.
Another object is to show apparatuses of the type suitable for making the inventive articles.
Still another object is to provide such apparatuses in practical form so that the inventive articles of manufacture can be mass produced so as to be affordable to consumers.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts that will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.